DART+ (DART Expansion)

Think Geoff Marshall measures the width on his video about the new fleet, fairly sure they’re wider than 9’4”.

Edit: 9’7” apparently.

Another one off the boat recently.

yeah

Would be great if anyone got a video of these out on the network…

It wasn't out on Saturday night/Sunday morning ☹️

ETCS signalling is now in place on the DART coastal line between Drogheda and Greystones, ready for the new trains.

Alstom completes one of Europe’s largest Level 1 ETCS installation for Ireland | Alstom

The signalling work actually extends beyond DART+ as far north as Dundalk, although I suspect that actually means as far as the NI border, ready for the new Enterprise rolling stock which is out for tender at present.

Goes all the way to the border, the new Enterprise fleet at tender phase currently will not have the legacy CAWS pulse code system

It also appears to cover Connolly-Glasnevin

The ETCS includes command balise's to trigger mode switches between 1500V DC and internal power modes

The high level design for the entire network has already been done and locations marked out. Fairly trivial, a few weeks at most to install and commission.

Its not just the ETCS the DART+ and new Enterprise fleets will not have the UIC 751-3 radio system, they will be GSM-R so you need GSM-R kit from border to Wicklow as well. The Malahide/Howth-Greystones section is already live with GSM-R,

Interesting video. Looking at the livery, I wonder how dirty the white lower carriage sides will look after a day out in the Dublin rain.

Iarnród Éireann have told Wicklow County Council that the DART will be extended to Kilcoole and Wicklow Town by the end of 2028.

https://wicklownews.net/2025/02/rail-improvements-expected-for-greystones-kilcoole-and-wicklow-town/

Some key points from the article include:

• Hourly service to Kilcoole and Wicklow Town.
• 20 minute service to Greystones.
• Extension of Kilcoole platform by 44 metres.
• Extension of both platforms at Wicklow Town by 40 metres.
• DART+ Coastal South will be done in two stages (Stage 1 - Greystones to Bray; Stage 2 - Bray to Connolly) and is expected to go to public consultation in Summer 2025.
• Double tracking "some areas" between Greystones Station and the long Bray Head Tunnel.

Good news but still a lot of questions to be answered. 2028 doesn't seem very ambitious considering the skeleton service that already runs past Greystones. The timetable won't have a lot of room for delays with a 20 minute service too. Will be interesting to see if the services from Rosslare continue to operate to Dublin or will they terminate at Bray/Greystones/Wicklow Town? There's still paths available for them, albeit, they'll continue to crawl along from Bray to Dublin as they currently do.

The platform extensions require planning permission, but not a full Railway Order, so nothing on that list would need to go near the single biggest source of delay in the DART+ programme, which is ABP.

“Double tracking” really means passing loops, and, like the platform extensions, I don’t think that these normally need ABP involvement. The Galway-Athenry passing-loop planning requests went directly to Galway Co.Co, and was granted within 5 months.

Signalling to support the new trains is only laid as far as Greystones, but extension to Wicklow isn’t going to be a big deal, and again, no planning is needed.

I think it’s do-able.

https://mmo.aiircdn.com/286/67c1c523b1193.pdf

Here’s the presentation, Q4 2028 completion.

There's politics at play though. The NTA done their usual, they let Irish Rail reach a point where they were ready for public consultation and then pulled it because they didn't fancy a fight with the D4 residents. But now that it's split into '2 phases' with phase 2 on the never never and simultaneously will be closing the level crossings on the Maynooth line there's grounds to rinse and repeat…and probably pull it again so as not to upset the well healed.